A floor plan would be really helpful.

A good picture of the kitchen would be helpful.

IMO 14' ceiling with pot lights is pretty useless for lighting so get a really fabulous dining chandelier with lots of lights all LED 4000K on a dimmer. As for the kitchen IMO kitchens should be lit like operating rooms only a bit more controlled. I like all LED 4000K bulbs all through my house . I have 2 long track lights in my kitchen one on either side of the island . hard to fish wires we have a really flat roof and beams in all th wrong places so track was the answer I have 10 heads on those so I guess 10 pot lights . I then would do some under cabinet lighting if you have wall cabinets and also so pendants over the island I like those 3 types of lighting each on a seperate switch I never bother with dimmers in a kitchen.Do 4" pots with LED bulbs . My kitchen is probably bigger than yours so you might get away with 6 pots cetainly more than 3

The area is a little messy, sorry. I had a tree go through the roof a few months ago, and the contractors JUST finished repairing the roof today! So now the holes in the ceiling are up for repair, and while dealing with that I plan to install the new lights.

The living room, from the front door (there's a floor lamp in the left corner that you can't see):

The kitchen, standing next to the orange wall in the first pic:

I just turned to the left to get the pic of the dining room:

I disagree that recessed lighting wont work, the light needs to get to the counter not the floor per say, and I also hate 4k bulbs, 3k max. If you want a lighting plan, I think you could also use a few switches, for zone. You are both underscaled, I would put 6 at least, and 2 pendants over the island or 2 more there. and a new chandelier that gets the light into the room not washing the ceiling.

...and a new chandelier that gets the light into the room not washing the ceiling

@RL Relocation LLC, are you referring to the dining room chandelier, or the living room ceiling fan?

I prefer the living room to be on the darker side, and RARELY turn on the overhead light. I open the South-facing windows during the day and then have the floor lamp at night, that's all that I ever use.

But the dining room... I dunno. It's a total waste of space, honestly, and it's why I wish that I could think of a way to rebuild the whole level. The whole main level is somewhat small anyway, and setting aside a full 25% of it for an area that's used for maybe an hour every YEAR is frustrating!

For one layer of ambient - general lighting in the kitchen you could put lighting on the top of the cabinets. This works best it the ceiling is white. I have worked in a couple commercial environments where the only general lighting was on the top of the cabinetry throughout the space and it was comfortable to work in.

The second thing I would do is undercabinet lighting for task lighting the countertops, which will get lighting where you are working

Then you may really only need one suspended fixture instead of recessed cans. I am not against recessed lighting, but you have three concerns in your space. I think: Putting recessed cans into a compact insulated roof area, needing to use cans for vaulted ceiling and getting them adjusted right, and being able to match the texture of the ceiling when you patch the holes of all the electrical work, in addition to the other repairs in the ceiling.

The second thing I would do is undercabinet lighting for task lighting the countertops, which will get lighting where you are working

I WISH that I'd done this before!! I had this tile backsplash put in that I really love, though, and now there's no way to run wires for the switch :-(

I don't suppose there's a battery powered option with a battery powered remote switch that looks like a decorative rocker? :-)

...you have three concerns in your space. I think: Putting recessed cans into a compact insulated roof area, needing to use cans for vaulted ceiling and getting them adjusted right, and being able to match the texture of the ceiling when you patch the holes of all the electrical work, in addition to the other repairs in the ceiling.

FWIW, there's about 4' of height between the ceiling and roof, so it's not really that tight. You can't walk around up there easily, but you can crawl with no problems.

I THINK that I'm going to strip the popcorn from above the kitchen and dining room, though, and then patch the holes from where the tree came through. This makes it the perfect time to add lights, and then I'll apply new popcorn when it's all done. So patching holes now will be fine... making a mistake and having to redo it in the future, though, becomes a big deal :-O

So then take out the wall, leave the post and rethink the space. I was referring to the dining area.

You could probably fish wire through the cabinets down from the top for undercabinet lighting and only have to do wall patching, and get lighting with the switch on the undercabinet unit itself or put the switch inside the cabinet. I put the switch inside a cabinet when changed lighting systems for my undercabinet lighting/

There are lots of options for under-cabinet lighting that use batteries or charge via USB (look on Am@zon. The plug for mine is above my cabinets, and the wire feeds down between cabinets.

No matter what you do, it will be a big improvement on the fluorescent light :-) I think you could do undercabinet lights, a fixed track light, and maybe a few recessed lights.

Industrial 3-Light Wood Close to Ceiling Track Lighting Spotlights, Black · More Info

So then take out the wall, leave the post and rethink the space. I was referring to the dining area.

@RL Relocation LLC, I would love to! It's just way more complicated than I'd like.

I created a thread on this last year (maybe earlier, time goes by so fast anymore) but I can't find it now. The issue I have is with stairs and banisters in the room (one going up, one going down) that make my layout options very, very limited.

In my dream world, I'd remove that orange wall entirely, then build a faux chimney and electric fireplace on the outside wall where the orange currently connects. Then have a nice open floor plan with the living room and kitchen.

The problem is that there's only about 12' from the outside wall to the banister / hole-in-the-floor that leads to the basement. Giving a 4' clearance to walk in front of that hole, that leaves me a mere 8'!

So if I put in my pretty fireplace and a TV above it, then the front of the furniture would be roughly 6' away from the fireplace. And they would still be kind of in the way.

I wish I could find that thread, but I went through my entire Activity list AND searched it on Google, with no luck :-/ But I'm pretty sure that no one had any ideas, it's just a poorly designed area with no easy solution.

I might make another thread on it tomorrow. It's frustrating, I know that I made a floor plan drawing and everything but now I can't find any of it!

@RL Relocation LLC, here's the new thread on that topic:

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6344608/remodeling-main-living-floor-how-to-lay-out-furniture

While you're putting in all new lights, it's a great opportunity to smooth out that popcorn ceiling! Just saying.

I'm afraid that's not in the budget, @JP L :-( There's no real stopping point, so once I start I'd have to do the entire level, part of the basement, and the upstairs hallway. Between the removal and then repairing the drywall, it becomes more of a job than I can afford to do.

And honestly, I don't love flat ceilings anyway. I don't love popcorn either, but it's tough to spend more than I can afford to fix a cosmetic issue when I don't really like the solution, either.